TY - JOUR
T1 - “When I am with my husband, I do not feel mosquito bite”
T2 - Insecticide-treated net usage among pregnant women, Accra, Ghana
AU - Quist, Mary Anita
AU - Adomah-Afari, Augustine
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how socio-cultural beliefs and practices could influence the knowledge, attitude and perception of insecticide-treated net (ITN) use in the control of malaria amongst pregnant women attending antenatal clinic. Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered using interviews and documentary review. Framework analysis was applied to classify emerging themes and the findings interpreted using the health belief model. Findings: The findings showed that the pregnant women had appreciable knowledge, both the positive and negative attitudes and the perceptions of insecticide treated nets. To most of them, sleeping under an ITN would not affect pregnancy/cause abortion, but rather prevent mosquito bites and associated malaria. Research limitations/implications: The limitations include the sample size of participants and health facilities used. Lack of application of a quantitative research method meant that the authors could not quantify the findings to ensure generalisation to the entire population. Practical implications: The findings suggest that health policy makers, implementers and health professionals need to appreciate the perception and the attitude of pregnant women when designing policy guidelines for the malaria control programme. Social implications: This paper helps to elucidate on how socio-cultural beliefs and practices could influence the knowledge, attitude and perception of ITN usage amongst both pregnant women and people in malaria endemic communities. Originality/value: This paper suggests that health policy makers, implementers and health professionals have to devise strategies to address socio-cultural beliefs and practices in the scaling up of malaria control programmes.
AB - Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how socio-cultural beliefs and practices could influence the knowledge, attitude and perception of insecticide-treated net (ITN) use in the control of malaria amongst pregnant women attending antenatal clinic. Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered using interviews and documentary review. Framework analysis was applied to classify emerging themes and the findings interpreted using the health belief model. Findings: The findings showed that the pregnant women had appreciable knowledge, both the positive and negative attitudes and the perceptions of insecticide treated nets. To most of them, sleeping under an ITN would not affect pregnancy/cause abortion, but rather prevent mosquito bites and associated malaria. Research limitations/implications: The limitations include the sample size of participants and health facilities used. Lack of application of a quantitative research method meant that the authors could not quantify the findings to ensure generalisation to the entire population. Practical implications: The findings suggest that health policy makers, implementers and health professionals need to appreciate the perception and the attitude of pregnant women when designing policy guidelines for the malaria control programme. Social implications: This paper helps to elucidate on how socio-cultural beliefs and practices could influence the knowledge, attitude and perception of ITN usage amongst both pregnant women and people in malaria endemic communities. Originality/value: This paper suggests that health policy makers, implementers and health professionals have to devise strategies to address socio-cultural beliefs and practices in the scaling up of malaria control programmes.
KW - Ante natal care
KW - Community members
KW - Insecticide treated nets
KW - Malaria
KW - Pregnancy
KW - Pregnant women
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014431363&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/IJHCQA-03-2016-0032
DO - 10.1108/IJHCQA-03-2016-0032
M3 - Article
C2 - 28256926
AN - SCOPUS:85014431363
SN - 0952-6862
VL - 30
SP - 148
EP - 159
JO - International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
JF - International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
IS - 2
ER -